Audio electronics maker Merry Electronics Co (美律) is expected to see accelerated demand after brand clients launch new products, which would boost its “true wireless stereo” (TWS) earphones and gaming headsets, while the work-from-home trend should increase its enterprise headphone sales, analysts said.
Apple Inc launched its iPhone 12 models last month, while Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp are to introduce their Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 game consoles this week.
The demand for TWS and gaming devices would help Merry overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, when overall demand turned weak in the first half of the year and many projects were put on hold or delayed, analysts said.
“Merry’s revenue and earnings for 2020 might peak in the fourth quarter due to the peak season effect of TWS earphone shipments and iPhone speaker shipments, while sales of gaming headsets are expected to remain high,” Capital Investment Management Corp (群益投顧) said in a note on Friday.
The company’s fourth-quarter revenue is estimated at NT$13.59 billion (US$471.47 million), up 34.04 percent from NT$10.14 billion in the third quarter, Capital said.
Merry last week reported revenue of NT$4.19 billion for last month, its second-highest monthly sales following a record high of NT$4.96 billion in September.
Headphones accounted for 72 percent of sales, while speakers made up 25 percent and others, 3 percent, company data showed.
In the first 10 months of the year, cumulative revenue reached NT$25.94 billion, down 16.99 percent year-on-year. Total net profit for the first three quarters was NT$743.96 million, down from NT$2.08 billion a year earlier.
Earnings per share were NT$3.6, compared with NT$10.24 the previous year, Merry reported on Oct. 29.
Analysts said the demand for TWS earphones and gaming headsets is likely to continue strong into next year as more new products are launched by clients following postponements earlier this year, while Merry has also penetrated into Apple Inc's tablet, smartwatch and earphone supply chains.
Merry's business is expected to resume growth next year, said Capital, which projected a 12.57 percent growth in revenue and a 22.71 percent increase in earnings next year after the estimated contractions of 2.89 percent and 33.3 percent in revenue and earnings this year respectively.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
RSS